yhtomit
Member
I've heard of bachelor parties, but never been to one until the weekend just past. My friend Dave from middle and high school is getting married in a few weeks, and a mutual friend invited various friends of Dave's from around the country for a weekend of Bacchanal fun.
I won't get into all of the things that went on, but ... I think I have a good idea now of what fraternity house life is like
On Saturday morning, those of us who could manage getting up went to a small outdoor shooting range / gun-shop in rural Maryland (or perhaps this was Delaware -- I'm looking for his business card), and had a great time shooting 2 45s (an HK USP and a 1911 -- I feel silly now for not noting the maker), a 9mm (S&W M&P, 17 round capacity) and a S&W .357 Magnum revolver, 5" barrel in stainless, I think a 686 (again, I feel silly not to have gotten all the details at the time.). We shot only 38s through it, though.
I'm not especially recoil sensitive (at least to the limit of the guns I've fired), but I was especially pleased with the feel of the .38 -- that revolver was superbly accurate! David ended up enamored of the 1911 -- he'd never fired one before, and was very pleased with its handling and accuracy. (Perhaps one day he'll be allowed to keep one by his wife, but no time soon. Patience, patience.)
All in all, it was perhaps the highlight of my weekend. I won't say the gun handling was the safest that's ever been (getting people who don't shoot much to realize quite what "safe direction" means or to keep their ear protection on at all times isn't always easy, esp. when they're doing it for fun rather than to learn a skill qua skill), but we survived and I think improved on that count. If I had a do-over, I would give a sit-down safety lesson first, but hard to turn back time.
And furthering my intent to start reloading, I saved the brass from all three calibers, so I'm several hundred cases in the black I guess if I reload, I can justify breaking my rule of "as few calibers as possible in the stable" and perhaps get a 686 to keep my 625 comfortable 38s through that gun felt perfect -- easy to control, not terribly loud (wearing hearing protection, of course), hefty but not *heavy* ...
The M&P and the 1911 were also great; it was my first time firing an M&P, I was happy with the ergonomics, though the mag release button wasn't as smooth as any of the ones on my own guns are. The HK felt ... well, acceptably fine, but a little blocky to me -- and I say that as the owner of an XD-45. It also tended to fire slightly left of my point of aim, but, by just a few inches at 15 yards, so within range-rental specs for certain.
Hopefully, turned a few more people on to shooting, too -- at least a few were doing either for the first time or for one of their first times.
And to the regret of my wallet, at around 40 dollars a person, this was one of the cheapest events of the weekend
timothy
p.s. Back at the beach condo afterward, I have this to say: Airsoft. If there's going to be some less-than-perfectly-safety-oriented playing among 30-something revelers, Airsoft seems the way to go. No major injuries, we remained in the "all fun and games" portion of the saying.
I won't get into all of the things that went on, but ... I think I have a good idea now of what fraternity house life is like
On Saturday morning, those of us who could manage getting up went to a small outdoor shooting range / gun-shop in rural Maryland (or perhaps this was Delaware -- I'm looking for his business card), and had a great time shooting 2 45s (an HK USP and a 1911 -- I feel silly now for not noting the maker), a 9mm (S&W M&P, 17 round capacity) and a S&W .357 Magnum revolver, 5" barrel in stainless, I think a 686 (again, I feel silly not to have gotten all the details at the time.). We shot only 38s through it, though.
I'm not especially recoil sensitive (at least to the limit of the guns I've fired), but I was especially pleased with the feel of the .38 -- that revolver was superbly accurate! David ended up enamored of the 1911 -- he'd never fired one before, and was very pleased with its handling and accuracy. (Perhaps one day he'll be allowed to keep one by his wife, but no time soon. Patience, patience.)
All in all, it was perhaps the highlight of my weekend. I won't say the gun handling was the safest that's ever been (getting people who don't shoot much to realize quite what "safe direction" means or to keep their ear protection on at all times isn't always easy, esp. when they're doing it for fun rather than to learn a skill qua skill), but we survived and I think improved on that count. If I had a do-over, I would give a sit-down safety lesson first, but hard to turn back time.
And furthering my intent to start reloading, I saved the brass from all three calibers, so I'm several hundred cases in the black
I guess if I reload, I can justify breaking my rule of "as few calibers as possible in the stable" and perhaps get a 686 to keep my 625 comfortable 38s through that gun felt perfect -- easy to control, not terribly loud (wearing hearing protection, of course), hefty but not *heavy* ... The M&P and the 1911 were also great; it was my first time firing an M&P, I was happy with the ergonomics, though the mag release button wasn't as smooth as any of the ones on my own guns are. The HK felt ... well, acceptably fine, but a little blocky to me -- and I say that as the owner of an XD-45. It also tended to fire slightly left of my point of aim, but, by just a few inches at 15 yards, so within range-rental specs for certain.
Hopefully, turned a few more people on to shooting, too -- at least a few were doing either for the first time or for one of their first times.
And to the regret of my wallet, at around 40 dollars a person, this was one of the cheapest events of the weekend
timothy
p.s. Back at the beach condo afterward, I have this to say: Airsoft. If there's going to be some less-than-perfectly-safety-oriented playing among 30-something revelers, Airsoft seems the way to go. No major injuries, we remained in the "all fun and games" portion of the saying.
